5/18/10

I know I've been a bit m.i.a lately, but the weather's been so gorgeous around here, and I have a new house that needs all that spring stuff-a-mah-doo done to it. Amazing how having a house just literally sucks up the time, day AND MONEY!So this recipe, well, I first set out to create a raspberry or strawberry cream cheese muffin. I wanted the middle of the muffins to have a lot of good creamy-fruity stuff in them. It was a fail, not up to my standards. I might give it another go at some point. Instead I came up with another crumb cake recipe (I hope ya'll aren't tried of my crumb cakes by now....I see a cookbook theme here "365 crumb cakes, a crumb cake a day..."I don't have to tell you that this cake was a huge cake right? I mean it didn't even last a day in this house. Poor crumb cake didn't know what it had coming to his sexy, yummy, buttery, fruity, crumbly self. But you know what else? This cake is actually a danish imposter; a danish posing as a crumbcake. Shhhh....don't tell anyone, they'll all be doing it.

Cook notes: the batter is very thin. It rises a bit when baking. This crumb cake bakes very fast! So please make sure to check it at the 25 minute mark. It will be hard to see if it’s done with all the layers on there, so use a cake tester to check cake layer. The coulis can be made a couple days ahead of time and stored in fridge until ready to use. It is optional, but wonderful to add in a couple tablespoons of the coulis into your cream cheese mixture.

For the coulis: Put all the ingredients in medium sauce pan and cook over medium (not high!) heat until fruit is mostly dissolved and mixture has reduced a bit as well as thickened up; about 30 minutes or more. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, pushing down on the solids. You might have to let this sit for a while to finish draining—it takes a while. Don’t forget to scrape off the bottom side of the sieve for all the juicy, thickened pulp. Discard the seeds. Taste and add more sugar or lemon juice if needed; it shouldn’t need anything. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

For the crumb topping:In a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients, pour melted butter over mixture, and toss with a rubber spatula until large crumbs form. Set aside

For the cream cheese mixture:Mix all in a bowl (really well) until ready to use.For cake:Place rack in center of oven, and heat oven to 350°. Lightly butter a 9 x 13 baking pan and dust with flour, and tap to remove excess. (I’ve also used the Pam with Flour and it worked just fine). Set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together 2 ¼ cups flour, add in the granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a second bowl, whisk together egg, butter, half & half, canola oil, sour cream, and vanilla.

Using a rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into wet mixture.

Spread batter evenly into prepared pan, and set aside. (to keep batter from sticking to your hand or spoon, just wet or oil your fingers or a spoon and spread evenly throughout pan).

The batter should be about half an inch high. It will cook/rise to an inch thick. (Don’t worry if the batter is very thin and hard to get into the corners, it does spread out as it’s cooking). Use wet fingers to push batter into corners. Next put on the cream cheese mixture either in one single layer, clumps or vertical lines. You can make swirls if you want too, I did not. Next add on the crumbs. Then drizzle on the coulis (if it helps put the coulis in a pastry bag and draw lines). Then transfer pan to oven, and bake for 14 minutes, rotate pan. Then cook another 10 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Check cake at 25 minute mark for sure. Let cake cool and set up before slicing. Using a serrated knife or bench scraper, cut into 3-inch squares. Store in an airtight container for up to 2-4 days.

I just loved sweetened cream cheese, add in rasbperries and the crumb? wow. when i saw this i giggled because I just baked something so similar that I could taste yours because I just finished mine for breakfast. Great pictures... see you next time

the more crumb cake recipes in this world, the better. raspberries and sweet cream cheese make an awesome combo, and i think i like this better than muffins anyway--the topping-to-cake ratio is much better this way. :)

i love your blog, juste a question, can i use my 13*9 glass pan for your rasberry crumb cake? and can you give me how much i need for expresso for your banana expresso crum cake, i dont have starbucks viathank you so much

meryem:i would say using glass might be ok, just grease and flour it up really good so nothing sticks.with espresso, if you have no via's then use espresso powder, maybe 1 ts. taste test, and see if it needs more before you bake.

Hmm. Well first off, the cake part doesn't rise all that much, maybe 1/2 an inch (as you can tell by 2nd photo). So its not that thick.But maybe your baking powder is old? I know when I've used baking powder that was left uncovered or old it does not rise.I do find that I have to change my baking powder at least once every 2 months. Which is odd. Do you live in a high altitude area? That might be something too.

about vanilla sugar blog

Unique eats, creative recipes, as simple as possible.What drives me to create? Seeing dishes in restaurants, meals created on TV, recipes in cookbooks/online, and I always think to myself why didn’t they add this or why did they leave out that? Love to question, love to research, and love to learn about combining different flavors and textures in recipes.Recipe creations please email: vanillasugarblog@aol.com